Re: The point I was trying to make below about Lucas...

Posted by Brett (Maverick) Lambert from voyager.stfx.com on September 21, 1999 at 12:03:50:

In Reply to: The point I was trying to make below about Lucas... posted by ROB T. on September 20, 1999 at 21:58:27:

: I guess I didn't make myself clear on my earlier post about Lucas and Spielberg and children in movies since now everyone thinks I have a problem with kids being in films.
: I do not think that a film that has a child actor appearing is automatically a kids film; "Sixth Sense," "Excorcist," "Omen," and a thousand other films feature kids and are certainly not childrens' films.
: My problem with "Temple of Doom" and "Phantom Menace" has to do with their use of the children in the story.
: I was trying to point out that in "Temple" Indy puts Short Round's life in danger unnecessarily throughout the movie. Can anyone really argue that Shorty isn't close to death a thousand times from the first minute he appears onscreen? He drives a car through the streets while being shot at, he's in a plane crash, he's nearly sacrificed, he's made a slave, nearly falls from a bridge, etc.
: Couldn't Indy have just left him in the village while he rescued the children alone?
: It is reckless and irresponsible of Indy to put a child in danger like that.
: In "Phantom Menace" I don't think they needed to change Anikin's age I just think Qui Gonn should have found another solution to the hyperdrive problem. It's true that Anikin had raced in the pod races before but he had no choice since Watto, his owner, made him. The fact that he enjoyed it doesn't take away from the danger he was in. No responsible adult would have urged Anikin to participate in the race just to solve his own problem. Qui Gonn never even checked around to see if there was another hyperdrive available, he just took Watto at his word. He never even attempted to trade R2-D2 for the hyperdrive. I know that's sacrilige but it's preferable to endangering a child. As far as Qui Gonn telling Ani to stay inside the ship during the final battle on Naboo, why was Ani even there? A responsible adult would have left him on Coruscant and come back for him later.
: Anyway, the point I was trying to make is not that children should be left out of these films it's that the adults in the films need to treat them like children and not as miniature adults.
: By putting Shorty and Ani in mortal danger Indy and Qui Gonn do come off as reckless and irresponsible.

: Did I change anyone's opinion??

Though your posts are surely interesting, personally, I find that you try too hard to find something wrong with Lucas and his movies past Raiders. It's no big deal with Anakin and Shorty, real values need not apply in escapist movies such as these, and calling Qui Gon immature and Indy irresponsible is not the case for these two. Qui Gon mainly wants Anakin to be a Jedi and bring balance to the force. Indy has just a faithful resourceful friend like Short Round. No need to put-down these characters values.

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: : I guess I didn't make myself clear on my earlier post about Lucas and Spielberg and children in movies since now everyone thinks I have a problem with kids being in films.
: : I do not think that a film that has a child actor appearing is automatically a kids film; "Sixth Sense," "Excorcist," "Omen," and a thousand other films feature kids and are certainly not childrens' films.
: : My problem with "Temple of Doom" and "Phantom Menace" has to do with their use of the children in the story. 
: : I was trying to point out that in "Temple" Indy puts Short Round's life in danger unnecessarily throughout the movie. Can anyone really argue that Shorty isn't close to death a thousand times from the first minute he appears onscreen? He drives a car through the streets while being shot at, he's in a plane crash, he's nearly sacrificed, he's made a slave, nearly falls from a bridge, etc.
: : Couldn't Indy have just left him in the village while he rescued the children alone?
: : It is reckless and irresponsible of Indy to put a child in danger like that.
: : In "Phantom Menace" I don't think they needed to change Anikin's age I just think Qui Gonn should have found another solution to the hyperdrive problem. It's true that Anikin had raced in the pod races before but he had no choice since Watto, his owner, made him. The fact that he enjoyed it doesn't take away from the danger he was in. No responsible adult would have urged Anikin to participate in the race just to solve his own problem. Qui Gonn never even checked around to see if there was another hyperdrive available, he just took Watto at his word. He never even attempted to trade R2-D2 for the hyperdrive. I know that's sacrilige but it's preferable to endangering a child. As far as Qui Gonn telling Ani to stay inside the ship during the final battle on Naboo, why was Ani even there? A responsible adult would have left him on Coruscant and come back for him later.
: : Anyway, the point I was trying to make is not that children should be left out of these films it's that the adults in the films need to treat them like children and not as miniature adults.
: : By putting Shorty and Ani in mortal danger Indy and Qui Gonn do come off as reckless and irresponsible.

: : Did I change anyone's opinion??

: Though your posts are surely interesting, personally, I find that you try too hard to find something wrong with Lucas and his movies past Raiders.  It's no big deal with Anakin and Shorty, real values need not apply in escapist movies such as these, and calling Qui Gon immature and Indy irresponsible is not the case for these two.  Qui Gon mainly wants Anakin to be a Jedi and bring balance to the force.  Indy has just a faithful resourceful friend like Short Round.  No need to put-down these characters values.

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